True vocal masters have the ability to sing a lyric and make you feel the intention behind those lyrics. Contrary to the lip-synced, auto-tuned din that comprises all too much of today’s popular music scene, real singers can stand before you—live—and stimulate genuine emotion, not just eroticism. Lalah Hathaway is such a singer. Her live performances are almost a throw-back to showmanship and stage presence of days gone by. She casts a spell on audiences and makes each person feel as though they alone are being serenaded right in their own living room.
The first ingredient in Hathaway’s magic spell is her tone, which is at once deep like the rivers and sparkling like that crystal stair, as earthy as it is ethereal, as sassy as it is sensual, and as steadfast as it is nimble. This may be a secret ingredient passed down from Donny Hathaway, arguably the greatest male soul voice for generations, not to mention a mother with classical voice training. However, audiences may be surprised to know that for every part soul, Hathaway is equal parts laughter.
“I definitely count among my influences as well as Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway and Joni Mitchell, I count Richard Pryor and George Carlin. To me humor is such a part of my everyday life that it effects and informs my art. [My band members] have to be hilarious. They have to absolutely be extraordinary players first, but then they have to also be hilarious. I really, really thrive laughing. And so generally, really serious people don’t last in my band too long. And everybody in the band is really great and extremely funny.”
The songstress goes on to display her funny bone when asked if she is very particular about how or what her musicians play. “I’m very particular that it doesn’t suck.”
That said, “the people that I choose to play with and have that experience with are great. So I never really worry about it. I just let it come through.” And herein lies the beautiful mystery of Lalah Hathaway. She possesses a voice with so much inherent presence, and she so easily navigates scales most singers can barely fathom, that the entire performance seems completely effortless. Spoiler alert: for Hathaway, it is.
“What I do for me is so natural that I don’t know what it is…. I’m in [the zone] a lot of the show. I’m like a channel and I really feel blessed. A lot of people say, ‘Oh, it looks so effortless when you’re doing it.’ And really, I’m gonna say that it is effortless because I really try to stay open to allowing the music to come through and do the work for me.”
“Some of us understand that we don’t understand. So it’s one of those things that we try to explain year after year…but music is a magic art. I don’t get it. I have the same thing happen to me that happens to you when I see music that I love: I’m transported, I’m transfixed. I wonder, ‘Where did that come from? Who decides to put that there? How did they get those lyrics?’ All the same questions you have, I have. I just have the blessing of being able to sometimes contribute to whatever is that magic.”
Yet, while some things remain a happy mystery, others are more deliberate.
“When I’m not in the zone I may be too self aware, or I have gas, or the promoter is a pain in the ass, or there are people talking or smoking a cigarette in the front row, or I don’t feel well that day, or I have a headache, or I have work to do tomorrow, or I’m distracted. All of that stuff happens from time to time, but it’s rare that it takes away from my experience of at some point being in that zone because it really is my passion and it is a high for me. So when I go to get that high, I’m determined to have it.”
Her journey as a musician seems pre-determined as well. One could hardly ask for better family pedigree, but for Hathaway, “I’m a musician because I was born to be a musician.” And like any good musician, she sees herself on a constant path of growth and learning even with the recent release of her sixth album, Where It All Begins.
“Growing up in this business and coming into my own as a woman, as a human, as an African American woman, as a musician, as a band leader, as a business, as a brand—there’s so many things right now that I’m at the top of just figuring out. And I’m kind of a late bloomer, so right now it looks like I’m at the beginning—which is really the reason for the title of the record. I have really learned how to be open, how to not be too reactionary, how to take compliments and criticism in stride, how to deal with the audience, how to best communicate with the fans. (I’m an avid social networker!) I’ve learned a lot of stuff. I’ve been in this process for many years, and so it’s been this ultimate university for me and I continue to learn all the time.”
Though the path may be never-ending, all of Hathaway’s life experience came to bear on this latest project—her second with Stax—thanks in part to an unfettered creative process. “I worked with John Burk and he said, ‘Go ahead and put the record together that you want to put together.’ And I felt like I had done that in the past, but I really did that this time because it was me finding the songs, finding the producers, calling in favors, working with people that I really wanted to work with.”
And true to form, the ever burgeoning artist learned something new along the way: “Part of the process of the record was realizing that everybody is an artist in some way. People don’t all sing or dance or sculpt or write, but every day is your chance to create art out of your life. Your life is really your art. And I’m really serious and passionate about that, and I want people to embrace the idea.”
The art which inspires Hathaway will come as no surprise to fans, as she reaps what she sows. “What feeds me is music that people create with the intent to really make you feel something.” And her intent while performing is, “to help you escape into wherever it is you are trying to go, and create a beautiful, comfortable space for you to live in, because I know how I feel when that kind of space is created for me: I relish it and love it.”
Bay Area audiences are bound to fall in love all over again this weekend at the Oakland Yoshi’s, a crowd and a venue that holds particular meaning for Hathaway. “There’s something special about Yoshi’s. That’s just a room that I love. There is a magic in that room…and the people are there for a show. They came to get down—even through the Sunday matinee! That stage is definitely one of my home stages.”
And therefore we can count on Hathaway to wave her incomparable vocal wand, casting the spell that will make all of us feel right at home this weekend at Yoshi’s. Her performances are simply not to be missed, for as her latest album suggests, each one transports us back to the source where all music begins, and reminds us just how beautiful the journey can be.
Lalah Hathaway
Friday, December 2nd - Sunday, December 4th
Yoshi’s Oakland (510 Embarcadero West in Jack London Square)
Fri, Dec 2 at 8pm $30 & 10pm $26
Sat, Dec 3 at 8pm & 10pm $30 both sets
Sun, Dec 4 at 7pm $30 & 9pm $26
